Gateway bag Alwis-Alles Memorial Trophy
Visakha win the Girls’ encounter
Gateway College, Colombo completed a grand double when they clinched the Under-20 and the Under-14 titles at the inaugural football encounter against S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia worked off at the Gateway College Grounds in Ratmalana last Saturday.
Gateway College also had the satisfaction of winning the Neville De Alwis- Ralph Alles Memorial Challenge Trophy. Gateway beat S. Thomas’ 5-1 in the Under-20 match after leading 2-1 at half time.
There were two own goals for Gateway in the 19th and 61st minutes. Areeb Niyas scored at the 35+ 3 minute followed by a goal from S. Kaggodarachchi in the 67th minute. The final goal was by Areeb Atheek in the 50th minute. Areeb Niyas and Aaqib Imitiaz both from Gateway won the Most Valuable Player Award and the Best Goalkeeper Award respectively.
In the Under- 14 boys game Gateway beat S. Thomas’ 4-1 after penalties. At the end of fulltime the scores were 1-1. The first goal was scored by Brian Herath of Gateway in the 16th minute. The goal for S. Thomas’ was scored by R.N. Jeshuran in the 29th minute. The duration of the game was 40 minutes. Randunu Dias and Dunitha Karunadasa both from Gateway won the Most Valuable Player Award and the Best Goalkeeper Award respectively.
There was also a girl’s friendly game where Visakha beat Gateway 2-0. Both goals were netted in by Imesha Warnakulasuriya, in the 13th and 21st minutes. The duration of the game was 40 minutes. Imesha Warnakulasooriya and Amasha Vithanage both from Visakha Vidyalaya won the Most Valuable Player Award and the Best Goalkeeper Award respectively.
The football encounter between Gateway and S. Thomas’ colleges was inaugurated in order to take football to the next level in the country, mainly among schools. With the tremendous increase in popularity of football, S. Thomas’ and Gateway joined hands to play an annual encounter, which is a popular concept in Sri Lanka by today.
The encounter was the first of its kind, where one of Sri Lanka’s oldest and leading Private Schools and a Premier International School - one of the youngest in the island - joined hands to build an excellent platform for students with diverse values, cultures and backgrounds to bond in healthy rivalry and comradeship.